What is “Linux”?

Linux is just an Operating system. In the grand scheme of things it’s not much different from Windows, MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, Android, BSD or any other operating system.

It’s the collection of files that make up all the little bits and pieces of things that makes your computer a computer, and not a very expensive brick. For the every day user it defines how the user interacts with their computer, what software can be installed, how their pictures are displayed, and all of the other things that someone might do on their computer.

There are a couple of major differences between Linux and the other Operating systems someone might encounter in the world.

FOSS- Free (as in Freedom, not beer) Open Source Software

The source code for the Linux kernel is “Open Source”, which really just means you can go to GitHub and see all of the code that makes up the Linux kernel here You can take that code, modify it, change it, do anything you want to it.

The same can be said for many if not most of the Linux distributions floating around the internet. The source code can be modified and changed and given away as much as a person desires. There are some limitations based on licenses, but that’s a conversation for another day.

This is a huge difference from Windows and MacOS in that those companies make money by selling their operating systems, so they keep their code “proprietary” and don’t openly share their code. You can’t take the source code for windows and modify it, or change it.

A note about the word FREE as used in this context. ‘Free’ here means ability, it does not mean without cost. While most variations of Linux are available for no cost, there are variations that charge for assorted features, addons, service etc.

Distributions

Since the source code for the Linux kernel is open, and people are allowed and even encouraged take it and change it and add things to it, people do all of those things. So when someone is going to switch to Linux, one of the first decisions to make is which distribution to use.

There are literally thousands of distributions floating around the internet, all of which do slightly different things, from different color schemes, to different updating methods.

Take a look at Distrowatch to see a small sample of the available options out there. (I’ll cover choosing a distribution in another post)

Continue this series with Why Use Linux